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What if DreamWorks Pictures/DreamWorks Animation was founded in 1934?/Flushed Away
Flushed Away is a 2006 British-American computer-animated action-adventure comedy film directed by David Bowers and Sam Fell, produced by Cecil Kramer, David Sproxton, and Peter Lord, and written by Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Chris Lloyd, Joe Keenan and William Davies. It is the third and final film to be co-produced by Aardman Animations and DreamWorks Pictures, following Chicken Run (2000) and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), and was Aardman's first completely computer-animated feature as opposed to their usual stop-motion standard. The film stars the voice talents of Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy, Ian McKellen, Shane Richie and Jean Reno. In Flushed Away, a pet rat named Roddy St. James is flushed down the toilet by a sewer rat, and befriends a scavenger named Rita in order to return home while evading a toad named Toadington and his rat henchmen. The film was released in the United States by Paramount Pictures on 3 November 2006, and in the United Kingdom on December 1, 2006. Despite receiving positive reviews from critics, who praised its animation, writing, humour and voice performances, Flushed Away underperformed at the box office, prompting DreamWorks to end their partnership with Aardman. The film received a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film. Plot Roddy St. James is an upper class pet rat who makes his home in a posh Kensington flat. While his owners are away on holiday, a common sewer rat named Sid comes spewing out of the sink and decides to stay, especially as England is playing against Germany in the World Cup Final. Roddy schemes to get rid of Sid by luring him into the toilet, but Sid is not fooled, instead throwing Roddy in and flushing him away into the sewer. Roddy discovers a city resembling London, Ratropolis, made out of various bits of junk, and meets Rita Malone, an enterprising scavenger rat who works the drains in her faithful boat, the Jammy Dodger. Rita is irritated by Roddy initially, but ends up taking him along. Her archenemy, a master criminal toad named Toadington sends his rat henchmen, Spike and Whitey, after her for stealing back her father's prized ruby. The Toad loathes all rodents, and plans to have Roddy and Rita frozen with liquid nitrogen inside an icemaker. The pair escape, and Rita takes a unique electrical cable that is required to control Ratropolis' floodgates. Roddy discovers that the ruby is a fake and breaks it in front of Rita. Enraged, Rita tries to attack Roddy, but eventually calms down and explains that she is only angry because her father (quite literally) broke every bone in his body trying to obtain it just for her to find that it was just a worthless fake. Roddy offers Rita a real ruby if she takes him back to Kensington, to which she agrees, and the pair first stop to visit her family before setting off. During Roddy's stay, he overhears a conversation that causes him to think that Rita is selling him to Toadington, so he reneges on the deal and steals the Jammy Dodger. When Rita catches up to him, she is able to clear up the misunderstanding. The pair evade a pursuit from Spike, Whitey, and their accomplices, and incensed at his minions' repeated failures, Toadington sends for his French cousin, known as LeFrog. It is revealed that Toadington was Prince Charles' favorite childhood pet until he was abruptly replaced by a pet rat and subsequently flushed down a toilet, resulting in his hatred of rodents. LeFrog and his subordinates intercept Roddy and Rita and retrieve the cable, sinking the Jammy Dodger in the process, but the duo use a plastic bag to lift themselves out of the sewer and back to Roddy's home. Roddy pays Rita the promised ruby and an emerald, then shows her around his house. She at first believes he has family in the home, but notices his cage and realizes he is a pet. Rita tries to persuade Roddy to come with her, but he is too proud to admit that he is lonely. She departs, but is soon captured by Toadington. Talking to Sid about half-time, Roddy pieces together Toadington's plan: to open the gates during halftime of the World Cup, when all the humans will most likely be using their toilets. As a result, a great sewage flood will form and drown Ratropolis in sewage, allowing Toadington to use the city as a home for his tadpole offspring. Roddy gives Sid his cushy position and has Sid flush him back to the sewers. He frees Rita, and together they defeat Toadington and his henchmen and freeze the wave of sewage with his liquid nitrogen. Rita and Roddy build the Jammy Dodger Mark II and set off in her while LeFrog and his men hitchhike back to France. In a mid-credits scene, Roddy's former owner Tabitha returns home with a new pet cat, which scares Sid. Voice cast Production Marketing Soundtrack Video game Home video Reception Critical response Box office Trivia Quotes